

I etched the Sainsmart logo on a piece of acrylic with very little effort. I set X, Y, and Z to 0 home position in the software. Before starting I positioned the bit at the bottom left hand corner with the tip barely touching. I connected the printer to my PC… I didn’t have to use the provided drivers…then loaded the example gcode. It has a digital copy of the instructions as well as some windows software and drivers and some gcode for testing. The kit came with a mini CD but I skipped using it and downloaded the documents and software from Sainsmart wiki. First Etches with CNC 3018-PRO Experimenting All were provided except skull and sword – Click to Enlarge Everything seems tight and no slop in movement.

I did find a ball bearing in the box but can’t confirm it was from this kit. I did record the build but found it not very interesting and useful to share. I bet I could easily put it together by myself in about an hour under better circumstances. I had three issues were I had to redo but all were my fault and easy to fix. I am a little above average height and my workbench is at my standing height in my shop so opted for the floor. I normally put together in my shop but wanted them involved. We put it together on our carport on a rug… my back wishes it was at the workbench.

It took us about 1.5 hours to build and I was only able to keep their attention for about half the time. I had been talking about the CNC/engraver with my kids and they were excited to help build one evening after school. The 3018 user manual was mostly pictures but they called out anything that might be questionable. Building Genmitsu CNC 3018-PRO CNC Router On the previous version these had to be mounted and manually aligned which from what I read can be a pain. The 3018 is called upgraded because the new mounting for the X and Y rods and lead screws. So the one I was sent has a 300x180mm build volume. The xxxx represent the build volume in the x and y. While waiting on the unit to arrive I did some research and found that there are several different versions on the market labeled CNC xxxx. I am writing about my experiences with building Genmitsu 3018 CNC router upgraded version provided by Sainsmart for this review.

Today we are going to look at something a little different.
